If you’re like most homeowners, you know that there’s no such thing as enough storage space. There’s a limit, after all, to the things you can squirrel away in your basement and garage. What you really need is a garden shed–one large enough to house an arsenal of outdoor power tools while providing organized space for everything from rakes and shovels to fertilizer and fuel.

There are two choices when it comes to building a wooden garden shed: You can buy a kit–and put up with the manufacturer’s choice of materials and layout–or you can design a structure to suit your own particular needs and tastes. This approach may cost more and take longer, but it’s the best way to get what you want. We had in mind a basic 9 x 13-ft. shed built with decent materials and conventional framing methods